War is not to be led by those of weak character.

I wouldn’t trust either of them [Obama or H. Clinton] to mow my lawn, let alone command the American military.

That’s about the size of it.

Here’s where to go.

Norman Podhoretz, a longstanding maven of the first water on the conservative side, delivers a not-tongue-in-cheek of Obama’s foreign-policy successes.

A bit tangled, in my non-maven’s view, but interesting.

It was a gray day in April for Jeremiah Wright when this one went down: indictment of his flesh and blood for laundering and lying:

Defendant: Jeri L. Wright, daughter of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright

Filed: April 10, 2013

Charges: Money laundering and making a false statement before a grand jury

Details: Wright, described as a “close associate and friend” of [also indicted] Regina and Ronald Evans, is accused of aiding the Evanses in their money-laundering scheme.

Status: Trial set for Oct. 16.

Now he really wants to god-damn America.

Condolences to Rep. Danny Davis (D-West Side and suburbs), whose niece has been caught (says indictment) with greedy hand in public-money cookie jar:

Defendant: Quinshaunta R. Golden, former Illinois Department of Public Health chief of staff

Filed: Aug. 7, 2013

Charges: Bribery/theft, mail fraud and obstruction of justice

Details: Golden, a niece of U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-Ill.), is accused of pocketing about $433,000 in kickbacks on health department contracts and grants that she oversaw. Her boss at the time, Obama’s friend [Eric E.] Whitaker, has said he is cooperating with the investigation and “had no firsthand knowledge of the activities outlined in [Golden’s] indictment.”

Status: Trial set for Oct. 1.

Same for Pres. Obama, whose friend has been maybe victimized by a trusted employee. Congratulations to O’s friend Whitaker, who had no “firsthand” knowledge of the thievery (but apparently secondhand) and is nonetheless ratting on her (apparently by way of secondhand knowledge, stuff he heard at the water cooler).

At the Chant Cafe (Catholic musicians gathered to blog about liturgy and life), Adam Wood speaks of his frequent complaint that Gregorian chant promoters should “stop making chant so freaking boring all the time.”

Ancient chants were anything but solemn and mannered. They were sung unaccompanied, quickly, and with gusto. Documented complaints from Archbishops reveal how the chants were too emotional, too ecstatic, too unrefined. They were sung to inspire soldiers on the battlefield, and comfort the dying in hospitals. They had the power, so the medievals believed, to dispel demons and conjure visions of the dead, who sang the songs along with the living.

The Episcopal Diocese of Texas has provided him a welcome forum in its quarterly magazine.

Jerk.

Not sure what a surreply is, but the gist is that Tom Dart of Cook County is practicing uncivil disobedience to the law of the land.

Denny McCann, was run over and killed in June 2011, by an unlawfully present alien who had just completed a two-year term of probation for a 2009 DUI conviction.

The alien, Saul Chavez, was charged with felony aggravated driving under the influence, but was released by Dart from a Cook County jail in November 2011 despite an ICE immigration detainer.

In the lawsuit [McCann’s brother Brian] McCann asks the Circuit Court to compel Dart to comply with his legal duties to honor ICE detainers and to cooperate with federal immigration officials. It also asks the Circuit Court to declare the Cook County ordinance to be preempted by federal law.

Dart won’t deport the guy, claiming ICE is just “requesting” that he do so. To do it would give Dart a different sort of headline than he usually gets in Chicago.